After being largely discounted out of a top three finish in South Carolina, Ron Paul is now closing fast on third placed Rick Santorum, as a new poll out of the state shows Mitt Romney’s lead slipping.

Unlike New Hampshire, where Paul finished second after taking advantage of strong support from Independents, South Carolina is dominated by social conservatives who would be more inclined to vote for someone like Santorum (although Mitt Romney’s frontrunner status defies rational explanation given his true stance on abortion).

That’s what makes Paul’s rise to just one per cent behind Santorum in a new Insider Advantage poll all the more impressive.

The poll illustrates how Mitt Romney’s once commanding lead is dissolving. Polling at 37 per cent just a week ago, Romney now stands at 23 per cent, with Gingrich in second at 21 per cent and Santorum third with 14 per cent. Ron Paul is in fourth with 13 per cent.

“In the three other major South Carolina polls completed in the new year, Romney was earning 37 percent, 27 percent, and 30 percent, according to Real Clear Politics – meaning his 23 percent in the latest poll marks a precipitous decline,” reports the Hill.

Attacks on Romney’s political background illustrating how he is plainly not a conservative by Newt Gingrich are said to be behind the former Massachusetts governor’s slide, which is ironic given the fact that Gingrich himself is just as liberal, supporting Nancy Pelosi’s cap and trade nightmare, socialist health care (he voiced support for Romneycare), as well as his vehement support for global governance.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

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Perhaps Gingrich should consider joining forces with Romney, because their big government track records suggest a match made in heaven.

With Gingrich’s numbers in free fall across the board, Ron Paul has a genuine chance of achieving a top tier finish in the Palmetto state next Saturday, especially if he keeps up his attack on Gingrich’s status as a “chickenhawk”.

Meanwhile, in a national poll Ron Paul’s support has surged to 17 per cent, equal second with Newt Gingrich out of all the Republican candidates, disproving again the media’s hoax that he has no chance of winning the nomination.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.